RED BANK: SHEDDING LIGHT ON SHREWSBURY

Streetlamps on both ends of a crosswalk at Catherine Street are among dozens along Shrewsbury Avenue awaiting repairs. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Pedestrian safety issues rose to the fore again at the Red Bank borough council’s latest meeting.

As they have often in the past, conditions along Shrewsbury Avenue in particular sparked outrage.

The woman above had to walk twice around the same car blocking the crosswalk when she crossed Shrewsbury Avenue at Locust Avenue and returned to the other side with a child Thursday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

Bank Street resident Allison Gregory, who ran for council as a Republican last November, complained to the governing body Wednesday night that too many motorists fail to stop for pedestrians attempting to cross Shrewsbury.

“Nobody yields. Nobody yields to people in crosswalks,” she said. “Something has to be done so somebody doesn’t get run over. People are halfway across, with strollers — [motorists] don’t care.”

In addition, “a ton” of borough-owned street lamps along the street are dark at night, though she found only a few out downtown, Gregory said. It’s an issue she’s raised to the council in the past.

On the street Thursday, British Cottage owner Tricia Nelson watched as a driver making a left turn onto Locust Avenue ignored a woman trying to cross Shrewsbury from west to east.

Nelson said she sees similar activity all day long from her shop, and “it’s like they’re going to die.” She said was driving recently and stopped for a pedestrian who “couldn’t believe I was stopping for her.”

In response, Business Administrator Ziad Shehady said that he would speak to police Chief Darren McConnell about enforcement.

He also said the borough is awaiting a response about a grant for streetscape improvements that “would hopefully improve pedestrian safety there.”

Regarding the lights, which Mayor Pasquale Menna said were installed 40 years ago, the borough had fixed those it could, but many require costly work “beyond what we can handle in-house,” including deteriorated underground conduit and cabinet issues, Shehady said.

According to a list provided to redbankgreen by Shehady, 52 of the 70 lamps aren’t working, and several are missing entirely. (See below for locations.)

Getting them fixed is a matter of finding where the issue fits within “a lot of priorities” in terms of budgeting and preparing for capital improvements, he said, “but we are working on that.”

In response to questions redbankgreen sent Shehady Thursday, he emailed that the borough is seeking grants valued at nearly $1.3 million from the New Jersey Department of Transportation to cover “traffic calming and pedestrian safety enhancements on Shrewsbury Avenue and in the surrounding area.”

In the meantime, he said, the police department “will also be stepping up enforcement efforts to ensure the safety of pedestrians in crosswalks. We were recently awarded a Distracted Driving Grant through the NJ Division of Highway and Traffic Safety.  With that grant, more targeted enforcement will take place in April and there will be other pedestrian decoy exercises around the borough.”

In “coming weeks,” as the weather warms, the town will also soon embark on a program to repaint crosswalks across town, using a painting machine acquired late last year, Shehady said. “We have plans to re-paint curbs and sidewalks as well as repairing some of the worst sidewalks downtown as part of our 2018/2019 road improvement plan,” he wrote.

Here’s the status report on decorative lamps along Shrewsbury Avenue: